Print feed mechanisms or modules are commonly employed to supply printers with various size media for printing. One such print feed mechanism, to which the present invention is directed, is a feeder for supplying in-line printers with envelopes used in the fabrication of mailpieces. Generally, the print media/envelopes are stacked in register and angled downwardly toward an entrance or input area which typically includes a drive nip for conveying singulated envelopes to the print head(s) of the printer. The media/envelopes are disposed at an inclination angle of about twenty-five degrees (25°) to allow gravity to assist in the singulation and delivery of the media/envelopes.
Inasmuch as the printer may be adapted to print on envelopes of various size and thickness, it is common to employ multiple print feeders/cartridges to accommodate the large variety of available media/envelopes. That is, to expedite a variety of print jobs (some of the print jobs requiring a different size/shape envelope to accommodate a variation in mailpiece content material), printers commonly include an interface, i.e., between the input area and the output of the media/envelope feeder, which facilitates the rapid connect/disconnect of a variety of print feed mechanisms—each having a ready supply of media/envelopes available for printing.
Various efforts have been made to develop print feed mechanisms capable of singulating/delivering envelopes having a variety of sizes, shapes and/or thickness dimension. Of the various geometric design considerations, the inclination angle for mailpiece delivery is, perhaps, one of the most important design criterion to address/maintain. To accommodate/maintain the inclination angle while, at the same time, changing the configuration of the envelops, e.g., the size of envelope, various solutions have been attempted, ranging from the practical to the more complex. One of the practical solutions typically includes a means for lifting the base of the print feeder, e.g., using short blocks of wood to change the elevation of the print feeder. By changing its height, the feeder can be spaced-apart from the printer to accommodate larger envelops while maintaining the inclination angle to the receiving or entrance area of the printer. Yet other solutions have included a complex base mechanism which includes a telescoping base having a tilting head for supporting an envelope stack. The telescoping base enables elevation adjustment while the tilting head may be adjusted to accommodate a range of acceptable inclination angles.
While the foregoing solutions represent viable methods/mechanisms to accommodate the delivery of various size/shape/thickness envelopes, such methods/mechanisms are either unreliable, inexact or costly to implement.
A need, therefore, exists for an effective, accurate and low cost mounting arrangement/support stand for delivering/feeding media to a print apparatus.